The present invention relates to a motor vehicle wheel and in particular, to a wheel fabricated in a manner in which the wheel disc skirt has a conical surface for engagement with and attachment to a conical surface of the wheel rim.
Wheels for vehicles such as passenger cars, light, medium and heavy duty trucks or trailers are often fabricated from what is generally referred to as a wheel rim and a center wheel disc. In a typical tubeless wheel construction the rim, when viewed in cross-section, has a rim flange and bead seat at each end and a drop center well and an inflation ledge between the two bead seats. The wheel disc is configured to have a skirt that is parallel to the center line of the wheel rim, thus forming a cylinder. The cylindrical disc skirt is typically attached to a cylindrical portion of the wheel rim, usually the inflation ledge of the rim or the drop center well.
Recent changes in vehicle design namely reduction in wheel diameter to reduce the loading height of truck trailers, and/or the increased size of brake components to improve braking performance have resulted in a decrease in clearance between the brake components and the wheel. This decrease in clearance between the brake components and the wheel causes heat dissipated from the brake drum to conduct through the wheel rim to the tire bead seats resulting in possible tire degradation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to configure a wheel disc and rim to increase the clearance between the wheel and the brake components without increasing the diameter of the wheel.
It is a feature of the present invention to form the wheel disc having a skirt with a conical outer surface for engagement with and attachment to the conical inner surface of the wheel rim bead seat. This enables the skirt to be attached to the bead seat of a rim rather than being attached to the inflation ledge or the drop center well. With the disc attached to the bead seat it is possible to reverse the orientation of the drop center well and inflation ledge, thereby increasing the clearance between the wheel and the brake drum.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.